Ants live in massive colonies with up to millions of members, but ever wonder what would happen
if we separated an ant from its colony? Well, this week, I decided to find out.
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Guys, the results of this experiment were very surprising and also quite moving, so
keep on watching until the end, to see what happens to an ant that is separated from its
colony, as well as the big reunion afterwards, and just a heads up: grab some tissues.
So the first thing I needed to do was design this ant isolation experiment, but I wanted
to make sure my methods were ethical. I didn’t want this experiment to be cruel. I think
the thing I was most concerned about was isolating an ant and the ant really suffering during
our experiment, feeling excessively depressed, or worse case scenario, even dying if it were
separated from its colony for too long. However, for the longest time, after years of ant keeping,
I’ve wondered what would happen if an ant was separated from its colony. Perhaps getting
lost sometimes happens to ants in nature. What happens to the ant then?
So to be as non-cruel as possible, I set the duration of this ant isolation experiment
to just 12 hours. That was plenty of time for us to see any changes in the ant after
separation. I also would be providing the ant with all it needed to survive while in
isolation.
But before we go ahead and separate an ant from its colony, let’s have a look at the
ant colony from which we’ll be extracting a worker. This is the Phoenix Empire, my massive
pet fire ant colony. They’re composed of tens of thousands of members now and are a
fully functioning, well-oiled ant machine, designed to hunt, collect food, build nest
tunnels, and care for their queen and all the babies she amasses every day. They’re
always working cooperatively together, and look. How cute! They’re cooperatively chewing
through the connector tube in attempts to escape their setup. Welcome to the fire ant
hive mind!
So in this experiment I will be taking one worker ant from this massive ant colony and
isolating it into this setup, I’ve prepared here: an AC test tube portal, complete with
a test tube full of sugar water, another with freshwater behind it, and a test tube setup
with red film to act as a shelter.
So now guys, before we begin, what is your hypothesis? How do you think an ant will react
once it’s separated for 12 hours? Will it show signs of depression? Will it keep wandering
the enclosure non-stop in search of its colony? Or will it remain happy, stuffing its face
with sugar water, and relaxing in our shelter, relieved it was now solo and free from its
fascist life of slavery? OK, maybe a bit much. But, let us know your guesses in the comments
and afterward go back to your comment and let us know if you were right!
Okay, so now to choose our ant. My plan was to stick a toothpick inside their territories
and collect one of these curious ants climbing up it. You may be wondering why a lot of the
ants seem to be covered in white stuff. Well, that’s baby powder. The ants here have probably
been previously preoccupied with trying to escape their setup, and surpass our baby powder
barrier. Well, okay, if they wanna break out so badly, let’s grant that wish for one
of them now!
I went in with a qtip to gather one ant. And got one. This worker ant will be our test
subject for this isolation experiment. I then placed the ant into our isolation chamber.
Done.
At first, it paced all around the test tube portal in search of regaining its bearings.
It was in strange lands now and often stopped to clean its antennae so it had the best sense
of smell possible for finding its way back home.
It spent most of its time wandering the top trying to find a way out. It could probably
smell its colony’s pheromones nearby, so it likely knew it wasn’t too far from home.
But now AC Family, this was the sad part. I proceeded to move the colony far away from
the isolation chamber. Our ant was now officially alone.
And so began our ant isolation experiment.
For the first hour the ant paced around and tried its hardest to retrace how it got in.
Going back on its tracks by smell is how ants that are lost find their way back home. I’m
sure this ant was so confused. I felt so bad for it already.
It eventually found our sugar water test tube, but instead of drinking from it, it chose
to prioritize finding its way back home. It could always come back once it found a home-bound
trail. It kept cleaning its antennae every few minutes and continued to search. I bet
it was bewildered as to why it could no longer smell its colony anywhere.
What amazed me was how sure the ant was that it had entered through the top port. I wondered
if it was a visual memory or the smell of the top port that it remembered, or maybe
both?
An hour later, I caught the ant attempting to chew or dig its way out. How interesting!
By the second hour, it finally rested in place to more thoroughly clean itself.
Watching her self-groom, I suddenly felt compelled to give this ant a name. For me, she was special,
as she would help us understand more about ants through this experiment, contribute to
science, and possibly enlighten us. What should we name her, guys? Let me know in the comments!
Three hours later, after tirelessly wandering the premises in vain, she stood still here
in the same place. I wondered what she could be thinking right now.
Could she be depressed, scared, confused as to how she could have lost her family and
her way? That disconnect must be so tough. I felt bad, but I knew this was just for the
12 hours, and she’d already finished a quarter of the way.
Over the next few hours, the ant seemed determined not to give up with the search for a way out,
stopping for naps every now and then before resuming.
She would always come back here to this spot to rest, not really interested in using our
shelter.
By the 7th hour, the ant lay still hanging upside down from the roof, motionless. There
was no work to be done, no babies to feed, no food to collect, no nest tunnels to excavate,
no colony to protect. As a single ant, her life no longer had any meaning. She was an
ant that had lost her purpose.
By the 8th hour, she wandered back into the sugar test tube and finally had a drink from
our sugar water. She must’ve been famished and so thirsty by now. With a full social
stomach, she did what any ant would naturally do, which is find a way back to the colony
one last time to share her goods, but again it was no use. There was just no way out.
It was getting really late, so I decided to go to bed and check up on the ant in the morning,
as well as prepare for its reintroduction to the colony.
At sunrise, I checked up on our fire ant. My biggest fear was that she had died. Looking
around the isolation enclosure, it took me a moment to find her. She was resting in our
shelter. She must’ve found the place overnight. She’d been through so much.
But suddenly, a vibration caught her by surprise, followed by a commotion, and then a very familiar
smell. With renewed life, she ran towards the entrance, almost shouting through the
glass at her fellow sister ants who were now pouring into the isolation chamber. Before
long, a fellow worker ant made first contact and seemed rather interested in her status.
Perhaps she smelled different, because in just the 12 hours her colony scent must’ve
faded a bit. She had so much to tell and a social stomach full of sugar water to share
with the colony!
As she stepped out into the open atrium of the test tube portal, fellow sisters came
around to inspect her, intrigued by what she smelled like and had to communicate to them.
What surprised me most, was that instead of going straight home, she proceeded to enter
the sugar test tube, not to drink, but as if to say “Here, guys! This is where I found
the sweet stuff!” She didn’t drink, but decided it was now time to head back home,
and before I knew it, I’d lost her in the crowd, but I knew she must’ve been so happy
to be back.
It was heartwarming to know that our ant had fallen right back into place, becoming once
again a contributing member of its massive society of ants. I felt gratitude to our fire
ant subject for allowing us to discover what we’d seen today.
As I watched the Phoenix Empire feed together on sugar water, I began to think about us
people. It seems a lot of us being isolated at home has brought on the cabin fever big
time, but what’s even greater than that, is the fact that real life human interaction
and physical contact has been reduced, and many of us are now missing it. I know I am.
Before the pandemic, a lot of us were going about our days’ business, absorbed on our
mobiles every day on social media, often super disconnected from the physical world we lived
in and were part of. But now that we’ve been subjected to actual physical disconnection,
where our human interactions have been reduced to zoom birthday parties and Tiktok posts,
I believe many of us are now realizing the value of being physically connected to each
other in the real world, how great we had it when we could just go out and hang with
our friends, talk casually with co-workers by the water station, and hug our loved ones.
As the saying goes, you don’t appreciate something until it’s gone. Once life goes
back to normal, I’ve decided to more greatly appreciate real life interaction, in gratitude
that the human species is not only smart enough to invent all these magnificent things like
the internet and our mobiles that surf it, but also wise enough to realize, that being
physically present and around each other, being a contributing and interacting member
of our global human colony, is truly an awesome gift and an inescapable part of who we are.
Thank you for watching, and supporting the ants. It’s ant love forever!
AC Family, did you enjoy today’s episode? I truly felt bad for our isolated ant and
was happy to see it rejoin the colony! So much more is ahead for the Phoenix Empire
and other creatures of the ant room, so if you haven’t yet, do SMASH that SUBSCRIBE
button and BELL ICON now, and hit ALL so you get notified at every upload. Also don’t
forget to hit the LIKE button every single time including now. It would really mean a
lot to me, guys. Thank you!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here, if you would like to watch extended
play footage of the worker ant during its isolation period.
And guys, did you know that it’s anting season in the Northern Hemisphere, and you
don’t even need to leave your home to start an ant colony?! You can catch pregnant queen
ants from the safety of your own backyard, balcony, or open window starting this month!
Be sure to visit AntsCanada.com for all your ant keeping and collecting gear shipped to
you in a special package from our ant-loving facility in the USA, so you can get the most
out of your ant keeping experience. We ship worldwide and also offer full email support
if you need our help! We also have a helpful forum and ant colony trading marketplace on
the site. Visit AntsCanada.com today.
And now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week. Last week, we asked:
Which of the flavours would you choose if you were an ant?
Congratulations to S B A Channel who answered:
I prefer brown sugar because it’s tasty!
Congratulations S B A Channel, you just won a free Ultimate Ant Keeping handbook from
our shop!
In this week’s AC Question of the Week we ask:
What do you miss most when separated from the world and society?
Leave your answer in the comments section and you could also win a free e-book handbook
from our shop!
Hope you could subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please
remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video, to help us keep
making more. It’s ant love forever!